Apparatuses for conveying a cooling air flow are known as fans for a coolant radiator or a cooling module and as heating or climate control fans for motor vehicles. The fan or the fan wheel is driven by an electric motor, the drive being regulated by an electronic control device which outputs waste heat. The electronic control device therefore has to be cooled, for which purpose what are known as cooling bodies are used which are connected firstly to the control unit so as to conduct the heat and secondly have cooling fins or pins, what are known as cooling domes, which are loaded by a cooling air flow. A cooling body of this type has been disclosed, for example, by EP 0 278 240 A2 of the applicant.
DE 35 23 223 A1 of the applicant has disclosed a radial fan for a heating and/or climate control system of a motor vehicle, a motor holder being configured as a fan frame, on which power electronics are arranged. The fan frame is configured as a metal part and therefore dissipates the waste heat which is produced in the power electronics or the control unit indirectly to the air flow which is sucked in by the fan.
DE 196 12 679 C2 has disclosed a cooling fan for motor vehicles, that is to say an apparatus for conveying a cooling air flow by means of an axial fan which is driven by electric motor for a coolant radiator of a motor vehicle. The drive has control electronics on a printed circuit board in an electronic housing which is fastened to the fan frame (fan hood). The fan frame is fastened to the radiator and has a frame opening, in which a casing fan rotates. The cooling air flow which is sucked in through the radiator is therefore channeled by the fan frame and conveyed through the frame opening. A cooling body having cooling fins is arranged on the electronic housing, which cooling fins protrude into the cooling air flow, to be precise either upstream or downstream of the fan. In every case, the cooling fins protrude radially into the external diameter of the fan or the fan cover. Disadvantages here are firstly the additional axial installation space and secondly the undesirable noise development, in particular if the cooling fins are arranged on the inflow side of the fan.